Eight of Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow’s funniest scenes
Chow may be firmly entrenched on the mainland, but for Hongkongers he’s their own king of comedy. Enjoy these golden moments from HK cinema
The box office success of Mermaid is a bittersweet one for Hong Kong fans of Stephen Chow.
On the one hand, it further cements Chow’s status as one of this city’s most successful stars ever, but the nature of the production (financed by Chinese studios and shot in Putonghua) means the chance of Chow ever returning to starring in Cantonese mo lei tau comedies grows slimmer by the day. But fans will always have the memories.
READ MORE: Film review: Mermaid – Stephen Chow’s environmental morality tale
Here are eight of his funniest scenes:
How not to escape execution
From From Beijing With Love
What makes Stephen Chow’s ’90s films so hilarious is that his gags are at once absurd and based on reality (or, at least, what Hongkongers believe to be real). Take this scene, for example, in which Chow’s character – a James Bond-like Chinese secret agent named Ling Ling Chat (Cantonese for “zero zero seven”) – is framed by a corrupt senior Chinese government official and sent for execution by firing squad. Ling thinks of multiple ways to escape, only to witness fellow captives try and fail each of his ideas.
Wayward flying daggers